REVIEW BENEFIT the POREfessional: License to blot UPDATE

No one wants a shiny face, but fortunately, there are loads of powders, blotting papers and creams on the market to help combat unflattering shine. This one comes in the form of a stick for instant oil blotting satisfaction.

BENEFIT the POREfessional: license to blot

This instant oil-blotting stick with tiny invisible blotting spheres mattifies shine for up to six hours (hmm…) after application.

I was disappointed with this product, I followed the instructions and used short swipes on my nose to blot to oil away, but instead of doing that, it just removed my foundation so my nose looked patchy. I didn’t think it reduced my pore size or got rid of oil either.

But it has a lot of horrible reviews on Make up Alley.

Benefit dropped the ball with this product. If used directly on the face, it simply absorbs mostly make up products and still leaves some amounts of oil on the skin. It is directed to be applied directly by hand, (where?) which seems counterproductive because there are oils on your hands (not to mention germs, dirt etc that you don’t want on your face).

Sadly, another gimmicky product from Benefit. Actually, it does what it says to a certain degree: it blots out shine for a good hour (or two at most). But my main problem with it is that I don’t see how this is a better option to blotting papers/sheets or using mattifying powder, for instance.

If I could give this zero lippies I would! What a complete an utter load of s*it! Does sweet F A and costs a fortune, this idea of it sounded great, hence why I got it, but it does absolutely nothing!

It has a list of scary sounding ingredients with the most recognisable being paraffin, beeswax, silica and phenoxyethanol.

It doesn’t really minimise the look of pores.

After an initial test by panelists, the product was ‘properly’ tested via a consumer panel made up of a mere 30 women over a laughably short 7 days. (Seriously?)

BUT…

It actually does work! It was a life saver for me on more than a couple of occasions when I was testing out a new moisturiser which left my face looking like an oil slick by 10am.

I love it! Well, I love the tiny free sample I found in my handbag. Would I pay the full whack of £15.50? I’m not sure…

It certainly does absorb excess surface oil. One of the negative reviews above said that it would blot out shine for a couple of hours at most, but that’s fine with me – I need to be de-shined immediately.

I ‘scribble’ it over the oily patches and it doesn’t leave a snailtrail or mess with my foundation, it just kills the shine.

I wipe it with a tissue if any make up transfers from my face to the stick, but otherwise, it’s the quickest, easiest route to a shine free face.

The price is very off-putting, but I can see this being a life saver for a shiny faced bride, or if you’re pulled into a photo and you’re sweating up a storm.

I’m saving my sample for emergency use. There may be some still given away in various beauty boxes, so you could look out for them there.

I was going to suggest the Benefit counter, but it looks like most of the ‘travel sized’ meant to be given out to the public samples are sitting on eBay waiting to be sold for between £4-5.00.

However, if you want don’t want to commit to £15.50 for the full size stick it might be worth sucking it up and buying one from eBay, I think it’s a great little product.

Benefit Porefessional Licence to Blot Mattifier £15.50

23rd May 2016

UPDATE 26th September 2016

The little sample stick ran out faster than I thought it would, but I did indeed go on to buy a full-sized one at the airport in August.

We have experienced some incredibly humid, sticky days this summer – even my eyes were sweating, but License to Blot was AMAZING and instantly absorbed all signs of shine. I’m still puzzled by all the poor reviews, this is my find of 2016!

Interesting! I have been eyeing his up for a while, but have been put off by a couple of benefit products recently (They’re real liner and air patrol) after being a long term Benefit fan….Not sure I’m prepared to shell out to try it though…